Taxidermia - Friss oder stirb

Taxidermia is the goriest, most disturbing and most disgusting film I have ever seen, yet is one of the greatest feats in 21st century movie-making. It is dark and repugnant, but very deliberately so. It is not at all self-indulgent, although it might seem that at first glance. However, 30 minutes into the film one cannot help but realize that all this gore is meant with purpose, that this sickening texture of coherence is what gives this satire its peculiar authenticity. L'art pour l'art gruesomeness really gets my goat, but in this case everything falls into its right place. Although I got physically sick watching it, I have to admit I am an admirer of Taxidermia.

We see three generations of men from a strange family: an army orderly obsessed with one-sided sex, his son, an acclaimed speed-eater, and an animal preparator. They are all peculiarly abnormal in their own ways but so is everybody else in the twisted world Gyorgy Palfi has created. But we all know that however deviant a world is on screen it merely is a reflection of our even more deviant everyday life. What Palfi tries to put across is that in our society sick is not even sick any more, dementia is not dementia any more, and we are ready to accept any defect or corruption of mind as long as they serve the self right in his quest for creating something new, something with which he can stand out from the crowd even more. Search for the inner genius justifies everything.

Oh my god! I just got out from seeing Taxidermia at MIFF 2006 and I was literally speechless. As I was one of the first to leave the theatre, I took it upon myself to stand out the front and watch the expressions on the faces of other patrons as they exited. Most were laughing in disbelief at what they had just seen, some were white as ghosts and some looked plain baffled. Whatever way you look at it, Taxidermia will certainly make a strong impact on you.

I saw Gyorgy Palfi's "Hukkle" a few years ago at MIFF and although that was an interesting film, he's really excelled himself with Taxidermia. One thing's for sure, you'll need a strong stomach to watch Taxidermia a) for the gore & b) cause you're gonna laugh your head off! Outstanding cinema! 10/10

This film aims for shock value rather than plot.

We see several generations of a family who are all strange in different ways.

The ideas are certainly original and the film moves at a good pace. There are a few twists as we follow the characters and get a view of their quite brutal and unpleasant lifestyles.

The reliance on disgust is boring though, if you aren't shocked by the imagery then you aren't left with much else.

The dialogue is minimal and the characters aren't likable, we are supposed to see them as exhibits not develop empathy for them. This leaves the film feeling slightly dead with no emotion and no real impact.

Watchable for the weirdness but would certainly offer nothing worth a second viewing.

• Don't watch this while eating
• Don't watch this with other people
• Don't watch this if there's even just a risk of people walking past the screen while it's on
• Don't watch this if surgery scenes make you squeamish
• Don't watch this if taxidermy creeps you out
• Don't watch this if full nudity makes you uncomfortable
• Don't watch this if you hate scenes where people vomit on-camera

If you can prepare for/ handle all of the above, then do watch this, because it's.... something, alright.

Gyorgy Palfi's second feature Taxidermia is definitely a milestone in Hungarian film-making, it is a truly astonishing experience and I would thoroughly recommend it to anyone wanting to broaden their taste for cinema. I found the film to be a deep black comedy with some stomach churning, twisted scenes intermixed with beautiful artwork and sophomore characters.

Through chronicling the lives of three generations of one family (a soldier from the Second World War, a sportsman and a taxidermist) each is shown to have their own perverse and distorted lifestyle which is cleverly exhibited through (among other approaches), myriad masturbation, excessive gluttony, deformation, dismemberment and taxidermy. In this film Palfi has created a deviant and anomalous world and, via his own talented cinema techniques, has managed to depict it in a shrewdly reflective manner i.e. he holds a mirror up to our own. Those familiar with European cinema will be able to reminisce with the many influences on show, with some scenes even harking back to Pasolini's epic, Salo - this is also combined with many other surreal influences. Some would argue that Taxidermia is a gory, violent and unnecessarily eccentric film but it is all necessary in serving its narrative and is not present for titillation purposes - as is so often found in some of the more contemporary European cinema.

Generally I feel that Taxidermia tells of a society in which defect, sleaze and dishonesty serves its creators own personal vision or goal to further themselves and that this search justifies everything, regardless of how twisted or harmful. In addition to this journey Taxidermia presents the audience with some of the ugliest and darkest places of the human mind. Without saying anymore, I would even go so far to say that Taxidermia is one of the greatest feats of 21st century movie-making.